![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEC_270582578-d410.jpg\")
\n\t\tI was diagnosed with type one diabetes a decade ago (Picture: Eleanor Noyce\/Metro)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tI was diagnosed with type one diabetes a decade ago (Picture: Eleanor Noyce\/Metro)<\/p>\n
Sat in a hospital bed in 2016, minutes before going under general anaesthetic, I was handed a Lucozade by medical staff to frantically guzzle down.<\/p>\n
At just 18, I had been accidentally double-dosed with insulin, the drug I use as a type 1 diabetic<\/a> to regulate my blood glucose, as my pancreas can\u2019t create it naturally.<\/p>\n Upon admission for pre-planned surgery on my back, I\u2019d been fitted with an insulin drip, despite me telling nurses that I was already wearing my usual insulin pump, which continuously administers the drug, almost like a wireless cannula.<\/p>\n When I asked if I should take my pump off, they said no. Then came the terrifying beep notifying me of a dangerously low blood glucose reading, also known as a hypo, which would send me into a coma if left untreated.<\/p>\n 80% of type 1 diabetics feel hospital care is insufficient<\/p>\n \t\t On three further occasions, I\u2019ve felt NHS hospital staff lack the knowledge needed to keep me safe \u2014 and I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n Metro<\/strong> commissioned an exclusive survey of type one diabetics to ask about their experiences of receiving healthcare for something other than their diabetes.<\/p>\n Eight in 10 told us they do not feel that medical staff had enough knowledge to help them manage their type 1 diabetes while in hospital, leaving just 19.5% to conclude that the care they received was sufficient.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that the research, conducted in partnership with type 1 diabetes charity<\/a> Breakthrough T1D, collected a relatively small sample of 441 responses, but the individual testimonies fed back were astonishing.<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t trust anyone\u2019<\/p>\n Bri Henderson, a 29-year-old with type 1, broke her wrist in 2021 and required emergency surgery. England<\/a> was under strict Covid<\/a> restrictions, so she was alone, which only worsened her anxiety<\/a>.<\/p>\n The copywriter, from Brighton<\/a>, was placed on an insulin drip overnight while waiting for theatre. Although she wears a Freestyle Libre sensor \u2013 a piece of equipment used to measure blood sugar \u2013 nurses still woke her hourly to prick her finger and check her levels.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tWhat is type one diabetes and what are the symptoms?\t\t\t<\/p>\n According to the\u00a0NHS website<\/strong><\/a>, type one diabetes \u2018causes the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood to become too high. It happens when your body cannot produce a hormone called insulin, which controls blood glucose.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, those living with type 1 diabetes need to constantly monitor their blood glucose levels either through a manual finger-prick test or via a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which is worn on the arm and tests glucose through the tissue.\u00a0<\/p>\n They also need to give themselves insulin either by injecting through a needle or by wearing an insulin pump.\u00a0<\/p>\n Crucially, type 1 diabetes is not related to diet and lifestyle choices. As the\u00a0Diabetes UK<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0website outlines, the exact causes of type 1 diabetes are not known, and there currently isn\u2019t a cure.<\/p>\n Diabetes UK<\/a> uses the 4Ts to outline the main symptoms, which are:<\/p>\n Thinner (losing weight without deliberately trying to).<\/p>\n Toilet (going to the loo more often, particularly at night)<\/p>\n Thirst (having constant and unquenchable thirst)<\/p>\n Tired (suffering with tiredness and a lack of energy).<\/p>\n Instead of feeling reassured by the nurses\u2019 double-checking, Bri was left petrified when the medical staff seemed unfazed by her readings.<\/p>\n When checking her own monitor, which she takes everywhere with her, Bri saw that her sugar levels were dropping \u2018hard and fast\u2019 while she was attached to the continuous drip \u2013 a fact she claims the medical professionals ignored.<\/p>\n \u2018I called for a nurse to turn the drip off. My request was denied,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n \t\t By 2am, Bri claims her request for the drip to be stopped had been rejected multiple times, an experience she describes as \u2018truly terrifying.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I thought if I went to sleep still attached to the drip, I wouldn\u2019t wake up,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n Thankfully after five requests, the team finally disconnected her drip. But Bri didn\u2019t get much sleep before a 10am surgery and was left feeling she had nobody \u2018in her corner\u2019 at the hospital. As a result, she didn\u2019t make a formal complaint at the time.<\/p>\n In her view, hospital staff in the UK have a \u2018basic textbook understanding\u2019 of type 1 but are not trained to navigate the \u2018complexities\u2019 of the condition.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s scary considering you\u2019re supposed to put your trust in nurses and doctors while you\u2019re in hospital, but it\u2019s never felt like that for me,\u2019 Bri says. \u2018I don\u2019t trust anyone.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tFact-check: Should type one diabetics be given double insulin in hospital?\t\t\t<\/p>\n Too much insulin, can low your blood sugar to dangerous levels, in a short space of time. <\/p>\n As Dr Suzanne Wylie, GP and medical adviser for\u00a0IQdoctor<\/a> explains, the guidelines state that patients who are well enough to continue managing their pump therapy alone are able to do so while they\u2019re in hospital. Only in cases where a patient is very unwell would they not be allowed to.<\/p>\n In these situations, Dr Suzanne says that the pump is \u2018usually discontinued and an alternative insulin delivery method [such as an insulin drip] is started.\u2019 Now, here\u2019s the kicker.<\/p>\n Dr Suzanne says: \u2018In some hospitals, there may be controlled circumstances where the pump can run alongside an intravenous infusion [AKA, an insulin drip] temporarily, but this is not routine practice<\/strong> and requires hourly blood glucose checks and careful management to avoid over-insulinisation.<\/p>\n \u2018Overall, the principle is that patient safety comes first, and any situation involving potential \u201cdouble insulin\u201d requires careful oversight, expert input, and frequent monitoring.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018My insulin was locked up\u2019<\/p>\n Sufia Taylor, 50, also struggles to trust NHS hospital staff, saying she\u2019s received tumultuous care since her diagnosis aged 18.<\/p>\n Originally told she couldn\u2019t have children owing to misconceptions about diabetes and fertility, she welcomed her baby in 2001. But when she was admitted to hospital, still pregnant and with severe sickness and unstable blood sugars, she says staff failed to ensure she had food.<\/p>\n \u2018I was apparently meant to walk to a room where they served it. It didn\u2019t come to me,\u2019 Sufia, who lives in Preston, says. \u2018They didn\u2019t know anything at all about diabetes.\u2019<\/p>\n In 2005, when her son was four, she had a stroke. By the end of the year, she\u2019d had another, which led doctors to diagnose her with Takayasu\u2019s disease, a condition that damages the arteries.<\/p>\n When the nurses were treating her, she was placed on an insulin drip, but says staff only tested her blood sugars on an \u2018ad hoc\u2019 basis when they had time.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018That didn\u2019t really work, because sometimes they\u2019d be testing me an hour after I\u2019d eaten, and I\u2019d be high. They\u2019d put more insulin in, and then I would go low,\u2019 she claims.<\/p>\n In these situations, Sufia says she\u2019d be blamed for supposedly having done something wrong. And, if her blood sugar skyrocketed back high again, she\u2019d be accused of \u2018eating sweets.\u2019<\/p>\n On other hospital admissions for the condition, Sufia says medical professionals would take away her insulin and \u2018lock it up\u2019, deciding they would instead be in charge of her medication.<\/p>\n This proved difficult around meal times, when she needed to take her insulin with her meal, but one would arrive without the other.<\/p>\n \u2018They\u2019d come an hour after breakfast with my insulin, when my food had gone cold,\u2019 she remembers. <\/p>\n On another occasion, when she asked for something sugary to help treat a low, she claims she was given a sugar-free fizzy drink. She fell unconscious and remembers waking up surrounded by doctors.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018They just treat me for what I\u2019ve gone in for. They will ignore the fact that I have diabetes,\u2019 Sufia says. Once, her son challenged the hospital on why they were ignoring his mum\u2019s condition, to which he claims a nurse replied: \u2018We don\u2019t care about that.\u2019<\/p>\n A previous report<\/a> from Breakthrough T1D found gaps in care for type 1s continue, despite the development of the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT)<\/a> framework, which campaigns for every hospital to have a specialist diabetes inpatient team to ensure that type ones receive proper care.<\/p>\n Almost seven in 10 (68%) of the study\u2019s respondents reported that they didn\u2019t have access to a diabetes specialist nurse during their hospital stay.<\/p>\n Commenting on the latest Metro <\/strong>survey, Hilary Nathan, director of policy and communications at Breakthrough T1D, says type one diabetes is an incredibly complex condition. This condition takes no prisoners, and there are no days off.<\/p>\n \u2018While there are cases of people receiving good hospital care, this survey shows that all too often, in-patient experience for people living with type one falls below the required standard,\u2019 he explains.<\/p>\n \u2018We urgently need to strengthen the quality of hospital care with improved training and a thorough understanding of T1D, so that people living with it receive the care they deserve.\u2019<\/p>\n The NHS saved my life, but the overstretched, underfunded service is leaving type 1 diabetics like me without the care we need.<\/p>\n Looking to the future, Sufia hopes to see some urgency. \u2018I need to know that they know what they\u2019re doing, not guessing or following orders,\u2019 she says. \u2018At the end of the day, I\u2019m the expert on diabetes. If I say I need something, I need it.\u2019<\/p>\n Metro <\/strong>has contacted the Department of Health<\/a> and Social Care for comment.<\/p>\n Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Eleanor-Noyce-2-0bf1.webp.jpeg\")
\n\t\tWriter Eleanor Noyce wears an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (Picture: Supplied)<\/p>\n![\"Bri](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_274926840-c280.jpg\")
\n\t\tBri was diagnosed with type one in 2013 (Picture: Bri Henderson)<\/p>\n![\"Sufia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_277765000-0bc2-e1768318218285.jpg\")
\n\t\tSufia has been living with type one diabetes since she was 18 (Picture: Sufia Taylor)<\/p>\n![\"Sufia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_277765053-09d1-e1768318198901.jpg\")
\n\t\tSufia was also given a sugar-free drink to treat a hypo (Picture: Sufia Taylor)<\/p>\n
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